in 2001, ktvu's bob mackenzie brought us the story of the legendary tenth mountain division. >> reporter: in their time they were legendary soldiers. the men of the tenth mountain division could ski, climb mountains, use stealth and hit hard and fast. >> i think it was the best fighting force, it was the only fighting force that i experienced and i can't imagine any fighting force being any better. >> reporter: 60 years later some of the tenth mountaineers get together. sometimes they tell war stories sometimes as a way as exorcises the ghost. >> when we passed him, his brains were just laying out on the ground it was a horrible sight. >> reporter: in 1939 at the outbreak of world war ii, adolph hitler began conquering the nations one by one. when president roosevelt enforced the idea of the fighting force the newly formed tenth mountain division began to train. most were college men already skiers or mountain climbers, athletes by inclination and many had the naive idea that the training was going to be fun. >> you had to learn to cope with the altitude first off. when you first got the